Richie Sambora has had a tough year, with the death of his father, divorce and the end of his relationship. But the Bon Jovi guitarist is back on the road, he says.

As a way to kick-start your new album, it wasn't ideal. In June, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora announced he was going into rehab just as the band released arguably the most divisive album of their career, the country-tinged Lost Highway.

Sambora is the first to admit he'd had "a rough year".

That included ending his relationship with Denise Richards, a move that made him a papparazi magnet.

In April his father died of lung cancer. That same month his divorce from Heather Locklear, mother to daughter Ava, came through.

It was at a Bon Jovi Unplugged show in June that whispers started to circulate about Sambora's "issues" -- he was reportedly drunk during the filming, which meant copious breaks as the band waited for him to sober up, and there had been some out-of-character six-string mishaps.

"It was me at the bottom. It's a strange thing to look back on now. It's a total reality check though, man, it's like looking in the mirror," Sambora says.

Soon after news of his Unplugged performance leaked, Sambora entered a treatment centre in Los Angeles to get his alcohol problem under control.